Visited New York for 4 nights from 4th July 2019. Family of 4 with two sons aged 18 and 16, our first time for all of us to NY. We had booked approx. Nov last year and collectively researched things we`d like to see and do. When we had our list of `must dos` and `would like to dos` , we compared the various passes available and decided that a 3 day New York Pass was best for us. We booked this about a week or so prior to travelling from the New York Pass website, which seemed to have ongoing `discounts` for a number of months, without this discount the value would be very questionable. The 3 day pass was only $20pp more than the 2 day pass so we felt this also offered us more flexibility.
To get into context, we were planning an intensive sightseeing 4 days before transferring to Cancun, Mexico for a week of relaxation so we were happy to pretty much fill our days.
First advice i would give is to consider the time of year you are attending, the likely weather conditions and whether the excursions fit your expecatations (e.g. queueing in the sun for an hour for a Hudson river cruise is a lot more appealing in July than it might be in December!!)
Second advice, if any of your party are first time visitors to USA on your ESTA, be prepared for a several hour queue at JFK Airport to get through immigration. This is relevant to this review of the Pass if you are intending to use the Pass on your first day as your first day available time will be significantly eaten in to (and you may be very tired from travelling).
This did not affect us as having arrived on 4th July, we got a subway downtown to catch the fireworks from a great location at Fulton Street, junction Pearl Street.
We were staying at the Wellington Hotel, junc 7th Ave/ 55th Street (selected mostly on basis of location rather than particular services as were only using it for sleeping and great as a base)
Our Day 1 Itinerary - Empire State Building (Pass initiated, no issues no queues at 8am), Grand Central Station (free), Madame Tussauds (Pass for entry and paid approx $10pp extra for Zombie/ Marvel experiences which were well worth it! 5 minute queue ), Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum (Pass - 20 minute queue), Hudson River Harbor Lights Sunset Cruise (Pass - booked in afternoon on way to Intrepid - 10 minute queue to book, recommended to and chose to attend 90 minutes early for best seats prior to boarding) more than adequately taking in Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge for pictures.
This entire day completed relatively comfortably on foot despite temps approx 30C as mapped out in advance.
Day 2 - Hop on Hop Off Tour (Pass- 10 minute queue) from Times Square downtown for 911 Memorial and Museum (Pass- 30 minute queue) and return later taking in Wall Street Bull. **In addition to 911 Memorial there is a great bar called OHaras a short walk away on Cedar St which does great food and has poignant theme recognising contribution of Emergency Services to 911 response. If you have links to Emergency Services, this is well worth a visit**
Day 3 - breakfast at Ellens Stardust Diner (Broadway) - well worth a visit!! - Bike Tour around Central Park with company called Unlimited Biking (Pass - walk up booking at 0915, came back at 1045 for 1100 start ) (electric bikes also available for small additional cost if any parties required it), 5th Avenue for shopping (Tiffanys etc) and look around Trump Towers, Museum of Natural History (Pass- 15 minute queue) (walked this but probably one too many walks for us!)
All in all, we structured our agenda in advance, didnt try and squeeze extra things in just to get additional value, and still used it 8 times each. Having paid $796 total for 4 people for 3 days, the total would have been about $1300 if we`d paid for each item individually so feel we got great value out of the Pass but probably if paying individually wouldnt have paid $60pp for the Hop on Hop Off Bus Tour as the price advertised on the Pass website so may not have `saved` as much as it appears.
Also, in hindsight, with the high temperatures, the Intrepid (Day1) and Natural History Museum (Day3) were right on the limit of our comfort zones but given that we had some rest planned after NY, didn't mind stretching ourselves a bit physically!!
We loved every aspect of our NY experience above, have memories we will never forget and this was largely down to having an organised agenda coordinated around the NY Pass - so if you are considering an agenda similar to ours, hopefully this will help you to make an informed decision.